Programa Operacional Research Articles

WATER SUPPLY AND ACCESS TO SAFE WATER IN DEVELOPING ARID COUNTRIES

Nemias Moniz Goncalves avails to acknowledge Gulbenkian Scholarship Service from FCG (CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION), for the granted individual scholarship, under the program of Postgraduate Scholarships for students of PALOP and East Timor - Stimulating research and professional appreciation, process No. 139758. The FCG has been an indispensable support in carrying out all academic activities. This work was also supported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund, based on COMPETE 2020 (Programa Operacional da Competitividade e Internacionalizacao) - project ICT (UID/GEO/04683/2013) with reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007690

Updated checklist of the marine gelatinous macrofauna from the Azores

Updated checklist of the marine gelatinous macrofauna from the Azores

Kernel Density Applied to the Quantitative Assessment of Geodiversity

Acknowledgements This work is co-funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund, based on COMPETE 2020 (Programa Operacional da Competitividade e Internacionalizacao), project ICT (UID/GEO/04683/2013) with reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007690 and national funds provided by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia. The first author received a PhD grant from Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (REF. SFRH/BD/ 64533/2009).

Approaching an Overdamped System as a Quadratic Eigenvalue Problem

The author Maria Antonia Forjaz acknowledges the funding supported by Portuguese Funds through FCT Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, UID/MAT/00013/2013. The author Jorge Pamplona is co-funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund, based on COMPETE 2020 (Programa Operacional da Competitividade e Internacionalizacao), project ICT (UID/GEO/04683/2013) with reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007690 and national funds provided by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia. The authors Anto´nio Ma´rio Almeida and T. de Lacerda–Aroso acknowledge the support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UID/FIS/04650/2013. The research of Lu´is M. Fernandes was partially supported in the scope of R&D Unit UID/EEA/50008/2013, financed by the applicable financial framework (FCT/MEC through national funds and when applicable co-funded by FEDER PT2020 partnership agreement).

Monitoring of the Visitors Impact at “Ponta da Ferraria e Pico das Camarinhas” Geosite (São Miguel Island, Azores UNESCO Global Geopark, Portugal)

This work is co-funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund based on COMPETE 2020 (Programa Operacional da Competitividade e Internacionalizacao),project ICT(UID/GEO/04683/2013) with reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007690 and national funds provided by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia. We also thank the Azores Geopark management body and staff for the support to the master thesis attheaimofwhichthismonitoringwascarriedout.Authorsexpresstheir gratitude for the comments made by Dr. Juana Vegas and by an anonymous reviewer, who contributed to improve the final quality of the manuscript.

Significance of monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) expression in human tumors

Event Abstract Back to Event Significance of monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) expression in human tumors Fatima Baltazar1* 1 University of Minho, Portugal Background and aim. One essential hallmark of tumour cells is the Warburg effect in which cells upregulate glycolysis, even in the presence of oxygen. The high rates of glycolysis lead to increased production of lactate, which must be transported out of the cells. Monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) play a key role in the maintenance of glycolysis, by performing the plasma membrane efflux of lactate coupled with a proton, especially the isoforms 1 (MCT1) and 4 (MCT4). Results. Our group has been studying the expression of these MCT isoforms as well as their chaperone, CD147, known to be essential for MCT activity and plasma membrane expression, in several series of human cancers. We found upregulation of MCT1 and MCT4 in the plasma membrane of colorectal cancer, upregulation of MCT1, MCT4 and CD147 in cervical cancer, upregulation of MCT1 in breast cancer and upregulation of MCT1 and CD147 in glioblastomas, when compared to the corresponding non-neoplastic tissues. On the other hand, there was downregulation of MCT4 in gastric cancer and downregulation of MCT1 in prostate cancer. We also found important associations between MCT overexpression and the clinicopathological data of the cases, mostly with aggressiveness parameters. We have been also targeting lactate transport in in vitro and in vivo models. In gliomas, inhibition of lactate transport (with CHC or MCT1 downregulation) decreased glycolytic metabolism, migration, and invasion and induced cell death in U251 cells (more glycolytic) but only affected proliferation in SW1088 (more oxidative). The effectiveness of CHC in glioma cells appears to be dependent on MCT1/CD147 membrane expression. There was a synergistic effect when combining CHC with temozolomide treatment in U251 cells. In the CAM in vivo model, CHC decreased the size of tumors and the number of blood vessels formed. Conclusions / Discussion. Altogether, our results and the ones from other groups support lactate transporters as promising targets in cancer therapy. Acknowledgements FCT grant ref. PTDC/SAU-FCF/104347/2008, under the scope of “Programa Operacional Temático Factores de Competitividade” (COMPETE) of “Quadro Comunitário de Apoio III” and co-financed by Fundo Comunitário Europeu FEDER.

ON RANK ESTIMATION IN SYMMETRIC MATRICES: THE CASE OF INDEFINITE MATRIX ESTIMATORS

In this paper we consider estimating the rank of an unknown symmetric matrix based on a symmetric, asymptotically normal estimator of the matrix. The related positive definite limit covariance matrix is assumed to be estimated consistently and to have either a Kronecker product or an arbitrary structure. These assumptions are standard although they exclude the case when the matrix estimator is positive or negative semidefinite. We adapt and reexamine here some available rank tests and introduce a new rank test based on the sum of eigenvalues of the matrix estimator. We discuss two applications where rank estimation in symmetric matrices is of interest, and we also provide a small simulation study.The first author acknowledges the support of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship and NSF Grant SES-0196372. We thank the co-editor and the two referees for useful comments and suggestions. CEMPRE—Centro de Estudos Macroeconómicos e Previsão—is supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the Programa Operacional Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (POCTI) of the Quadro Comunitário de Apoio III, which is financed by FEDER and Portuguese funds.